Holland and St. Joe Weather Buoys Pulled for the Season: Are they coming back?

[everhamme]

Holland and St. Joe Weather Buoys Pulled for the Season: Are they coming back?

With a break in the weather yesterday and today we took the opportunity to retrieve the Holland and St. Joseph weather buoys for the season. As of right now I don't have any guarantees to bring them back next year.

The Holland Sentinel covered the Holland buoy coming out of the water

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/photo/x1831582253/Hollands-weather-buoy-brought-in-for-season?img=0

If you want to see either of these buoys come back next season please send me an email [email protected] and tell me how often you accessed data from the buoys and why you'd like to see them return next year. This will really help for the St. Joe buoy as the Cook Nuclear Plant loves knowing that people are using data from the buoy.

For the Holland Buoy I would encourage you to think carefully the actual ($$) value the buoy provided to you this year and send an email to [email protected] telling her that dollar amount and what you will do to help them bring it back next year. Get your local fishing or boating club to donate funds. This buoy is not coming back unless local people like you support it. We have already received dozens of emails and are currently looking for an organization to accept donations that would be used to support the annual deployment of the buoy.

Thanks again for a great year and we look forward to coming back next year!

Ed

[everhamme]

Holland Sentinel just ran a story about the buoy funding issue in today's paper.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x346785901/Future-of-buoy-could-be-sunk-without-funding

[Just Hook'n]

These were AWESOME resources this year for getting out and knowing what was going on in the lake PRIOR to setting out from the dock. I used them often and I would certainly donate some $ to keeping them gonig.

[Line Dancin]

Email sent. I want it back!

[everhamme]

Glad to hear it guys!

[N II Deep]

Many of the site members here from West MI use this tool.

Many of them also attend a Swap Meet during the winter months at a church in the Hudsonville area - donation jar? or are we talking something more than just a few hundred bucks.

I guess the bigger question Ed is what amount of funds are needed to keep this thing afloat?

[Gnarf]

Many of the site members here from West MI use this tool.

Many of them also attend a Swap Meet during the winter months at a church in the Hudsonville area - donation jar? or are we talking something more than just a few hundred bucks.

I guess the bigger question Ed is what amount of funds are needed to keep this thing afloat?

The article said they need $25,000 to do another year....

[SUPERTRAMP]

An invaluable tool for the sportfisherman, I used the St Joseph buoy all summer and garnered a huge amount of information from it, especially the temp string.

[everhamme]

Many of the site members here from West MI use this tool.

Many of them also attend a Swap Meet during the winter months at a church in the Hudsonville area - donation jar? or are we talking something more than just a few hundred bucks.

I guess the bigger question Ed is what amount of funds are needed to keep this thing afloat?

The total to bring it back to Holland next year is $25,000. The buoy is literally used by thousands of people and it only takes 1,000 people donating $25 to reach that goal. I know the data is worth at least $25 to folks or even $50 or $100 to guys that check it everyday.

However, we need a local organization to at least offer to accept individual and business contributions to bring it back next year. So ask your local fishing club board if they want to help bring the buoy back next year.

Ed

[Wasabi]

How can floating a solar powered buoy possibly cost $25k a season to maintain and log data? Sounds like atm fees to me. Please enlighten me and I will be happy to donate towards the cause as the data does have value.

[everhamme]

How can floating a solar powered buoy possibly cost $25k a season to maintain and log data? Sounds like atm fees to me. Please enlighten me and I will be happy to donate towards the cause as the data does have value.

Good question! At face value it does seem like alot of money. The buoy hull and aluminum mast itself is custom fabricated in small batches by S2 Yachts and their suppliers at a cost to us of $25,000. The weather instruments, batteries, solar panels, and datalogger add on another $10,000 (these are high quality sensors designed for harsh marine environments). The wave sensor alone is custom desinged to match the buoy hull and costs about $6,000. In addition we have money invested in the mooring chain, hardware, and anchor. In total this is about $50,000. The next comparable buoy that I could find had a cost of close to double this and was made in Canada (this same company also makes the buoys used by NOAA in the middle of the lake). There are no comparable US made buoys with these same capabilities. We hope to recover the capital cost over 5 years ($10,000 per year).

The remaining $15,000 per year is used to pay for all of the costs associated with deploying the buoy and maintaining its high quality data feed throughout the year and retrieving it and storing it. Its hard to justify cutting out this cost or having others take over parts of the responsibility as it gets difficult to maintain quality and efficiency. There really is no comparison to this estimate as no one in the Great Lakes is doing this. I will say that I've poured over this budget many many times and I want to see the true cost of maintaining a buoy incorporated into the budget.

Another funding scenario is someone donates funds to cover the buoy hull and sensors then we just bill our services out on a time and materials/as needed basis (rahter than an estimated lump sum). This could save money in the long run, but we really need an agreement set up to ensure funds are available to pay all expected and unexpected costs. In the $25,000 figure this is essentially a lump sum that makes us responsbile for providing data for an entire year without any of the end users/customers worrying about repairs, storage, etc.

We are searching for other equipment alternatives that still provide the same level of data quality, but short of building our own buoy I haven't found anything yet.

I'm happy to answer more questions.

Ed

[PPLEPEU]

You have mail. I'll repeat it here for the benefit of other posters.

Ed,

I saw your post on the Great Lakes Fisherman forum describing the buoy and the need to gather both usage info as well as donations for 2013.

I accessed the buoy's info at least once a day all summer. I find it is a valuable tool for watching lake conditions and making decisions on whether to venture out for a fishing trip.

If you find an organization that is willing to pool donations, please pass along my commitment for $100 each year for the next 5 years.

Brad

IMHO, a buck a day (less if you extend the fishing season) is a good investment in having solid information about lake conditions prior to heading out. I spent more than that on an auto-inflate PFD.

[SUPERTRAMP]

Count me in for at least $50.00 bucks a year, this info is really good for the sportfisherman, hope u can get the Cook Plant buoy deployed again in 2013. Where do I send the check?

[everhamme]

Count me in for at least $50.00 bucks a year, this info is really good for the sportfisherman, hope u can get the Cook Plant buoy deployed again in 2013. Where do I send the check?

Thanks for the support! We are working on identifying a local group to accept the funds. I'll let you guys know as soon as we find one (if you know of any let me know!). Send me an email directly to [email protected] if you'd like so I can make sure you get a directed email.

Ed